Systems biology targets the computational prediction of characteristics of biological processes on the network level. Critical in building and analysing these networks in disease and normal states are databases that store information about the interactions of model compounds (genes, proteins, metabolites, etc.) and computational tools that allow the analysis of the dynamic features of these networks. The increasing number of databases and tools available for systems biology analysis in combination with the increasing number of primary data available from practical experiments raise the question how users can easily access and utilise these sources of information for practical research. Web services and work flow systems that utilise the functionalities of these databases and tools provide an efficient way of creating even complex data analysis schemas.

The goal of this workshop is

• to give an overview on the available content in systems biology research, with respect to databases and modelling tools,
• to introduce the concept of web services for systems biology applications,
• to present results of the EU Network of Excellence EMBRACE to a wider audience.
  
  
  

Organisers:

Ralf Herwig and Andriani Daskalaki (Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, Germany, daskalak@molgen.mpg.de) on behalf of the EU Network of Excellence EMBRACE.

EMBRACE is an EU-sponsored Network of Excellence aimed at enabling bioinformatics research through better operability of databases, servers, and services. EMBRACE includes nearly all large European bioinformatics centers that all will make their servers, services, and computational tools available using the EMBRACE-GRID.